Tony Award Nominee Forrest McClendon Stars in Arts Bank Theater's BIG RIVER

Students from the Ira Brind School of Theater Arts at The University of the Arts will share the stage with special guest star Forrest McClendon – a 2011 Tony ® Award nominee and Barrymore Award winner – in a concert performance of Big River. This production will be on stage for one weekend only with three performances from February 23-25, 2012 at the University's Arts Bank Theater. Big River is adapted from Mark Twain's classic novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, with music and lyrics by Roger Williams and book by William Hauptman.

In Big River, McClendon plays runaway slave Jim, opposite UArts student Adam Hoyak '13 (Musical Theater) as Huck Finn. McClendon has been an adjunct professor in the Brind School for 15 years and has played the role of Jim twice before at Surflight Theatre and Mount Gretna Playhouse. He debuted on Broadway with a 2011 Tony ® Award-nominated performance as Mr. Tambo in The Scottsboro Boys and is currently recreating the role in a Philadelphia Theatre Company production (Jan. 20 – Feb. 19). 

Big River follows the journey of Twain's unforgettable characters Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer and Jim as they discover friendship and freedom at the mouth of the Ohio River. Set to an award-winning bluegrass and country music score, this concert presentation is a collaborative production featuring the students and faculty of the Ira Brind School of Theater Arts.

Also working alongside the students is adjunct professor of Musical Theatre and UArts alumnus Ben Dibble BFA '00 (Musical Theater) as The Duke, a Barrymore Award-winning actor, singer and educator who most recently received critical acclaim as Elyot in Private Lives at Lantern Theater Company. Frank Anzalone, an adjunct assistant professor and Barrymore Award-nominated director whose career has spanned over 100 productions, directs the cast. He also directed McClendon as Jim in the Mount Gretna Playhouse production.  Assistant professor Linda Henderson serves as music director. Her credits include numerous UArts and regional productions and work in theater orchestras at the Academy of Music, Forrest Theatre and Walnut Street Theatre, among others.

Performances of Big River run Thursday, Feb. 23 at 8 p.m.; Friday, Feb. 24 at 8 p.m.; and Saturday, Feb. 25 at 8 p.m. (press opening: Feb. 23, 8 p.m.). Tickets are $10 - $20 and available online at tickets.uarts.edu or (215) 717-6450. Seating is general admission and on a first come, first served basis. All performances will take place at Arts Bank Theater, 601 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147.